Great and Terrible Things
by TheVaVaVaVitch
Summary: Alice's heart was beating wildly in her chest. The War was over, but she had not found peace. Grieving, rebuilding, and moving on to a life indolence did not appeal to her. So much had been lost already that it seemed impossible to move w, she could have the opportunity to go to a different Place and make sure that none of it ever happened at all. OC. AU.
1. Chapter 1: Mudblood

It had always baffled Alice that Hogwarts didn't have any kind of indoor exercise room or, at the very least a running track. It seemed witches and wizards were not overly preoccupied with physical fitness. Throughout her school years she had made do with running up and down the school's many staircases and through its twisting corridors. When the weather permitted, which in Scotland was rare, she would run along the path which circled the lake. Now it was summertime and she could use the makeshift track almost every day. The routine was as good for her as the exercise.

Alice ran steadily along the path, enjoying the cool dawn air rising off the water. She liked to get there early to hear the world waking up around her while she ran. The sounds of birds chirping and insects buzzing were occasionally intermingled with the strange cry of an anonymous magical creature from far in the forest. She forced herself to focus on the sounds around her and on the feeling of her feet hitting the ground. Her legs burned as she pushed herself to go faster and faster. Her lungs were on fire, and her breath came out in ragged gasps.

As she turned the corner, the ruined spires of Hogwarts came into view. She slowed her pace down to a light jog as she approached the castle. They had accomplished much over the past two months, but there were still a lot of repairs do be done. The main priority was to prepare the school for the upcoming term. Projects like the astronomy tower had taken a backseat to the restoration of the main rooms and corridors. The tower which housed the Ravenclaw common room had been badly damaged but was well on its way to being livable again. Luckily for Alice, the Gryffindor common room had been untouched, and she had taken up residence as the sole occupant of the seventh-year girls' dorm. She, Neville, and Seamus were the only Gryffindor students from their year who would be returning to complete their education, although she would be welcoming a number of former sixth-years to her room come September.

The main entrance to Hogwarts was cast wide open and she could see from the distance a few figures making their way down the main staircase towards the great hall. A quick _tempus _spelltold her that breakfast had started twenty minutes ago. She stopped for a moment and stretched, letting her breathing return to normal. She decided she would pop into the great hall to grab a snack before heading to her room to shower and change for the day of work ahead. The great hall had been completely repaired, and one could see no hint of what had happened there. Alice still paused for a long moment before taking a deep breath and entering the room.

There were not enough people living in the castle to justify the presence of the four house tables, so they had been replaced by a single long table running through the center of the room and a number of smaller circular tables scattered around the sides. The main table was laden down with a rich assortment of breakfast foods. There were a few people sitting at the end of the table helping themselves to the spread. They were mostly curse breakers and other ward experts helping Flitwick with the restoration of the castle's magical defences. Clustered around one of the smaller tables Alice saw Professor McGonagall having a rather heated discussion with Professor Sprout. Unfortunately, McGonagall had also seen Alice and was waving her over.

"Ms. Vale, please join us for a moment," she called out to Alice.

With a small sigh, Alice quickly grabbed a goblet of water from the table then went over to see what all the fuss was about.

McGonagall cast her a warm smile as she approached. "Good morning Ms. Vale. Thank you for joining us. I was hoping you might contribute a voice of reason to this discussion. Our disagreement has to do with the introduction of the new first year students to Hogwarts. It is now evident that it will not be possible to complete the repair of the castle before the next school year begins. I am of the opinion that we should cast a glamour on the school for the night of the Sorting to make it appear undamaged. That way, as the first-year students approach the castle from the lake, they will not be presented with a ruin!"

"Minerva," cut in Professor Sprout, "there's no sense in lying to the children."

"It will hardly be lying! Since the founding of the school, every first year class has had the privilege of seeing Hogwarts in all its beauty. Why should we deny that to our new students?"

"I agree with Professor Sprout," said Alice. "The battle happened and we shouldn't try to hide it, even from the new first years. If they don't see the consequences of what happened here they won't really understand the magnitude of it all. Besides, most of them would have heard about the damage already and would probably be more confused to see the castle intact."

"Thank you, Ms. Vale, for contributing a voice of reason to our discussion," said Professor Sprout.

McGonagall shot her a withering glare. "But surely you agree that the muggleborn students wouldn't understand? Your first look at Hogwarts is supposed to be _magical_."

"They'll understand soon enough," replied Alice.

"Ms. Vale…" said McGonagall. There was a flash of pity in her eyes that made Alice want to scream.

"Besides," Alice said lightly, "I imagine that a few crumbling spires will make the old place look even more magical. I was certainly expecting something a tad more sinister when I arrived."

"Quite right," said Sprout. "We do no one any good by burying the past. Thank you for your input Ms. Vale. We apologize for keeping you from your breakfast."

McGonagall did not seem to think the matter was so settled, but she relented nonetheless. "Yes, thank you Ms. Vale. Enjoy your meal."

"Anytime," replied Alice. She turned around and walked a bit too quickly towards the banquet table. What she really wanted was to be left alone, but she doubted telling them that would be very productive. She knew that McGonagall had gone to great lengths to keep the reporters away from her, and for that she was truly grateful. But, the woman seemed determined to seek Alice's opinion on all sorts of inconsequential topics.

Alice grabbed a plate and loaded it with food. She pulled out her wand and cast a quick _immobulus _on the whole ensemble and strode out of the hall, refusing to meet anyone's eye. She ate a roll as she walked, passing no one on her way back to her room.

"Password?" asked the portrait of the Fat Lady as Alice approached.

"Pickled toad," replied Alice. She didn't break her stride as the portrait swung open in front of her. She was the only Gryffindor student currently living in the castle. Neville had stayed for a few weeks in the beginning along with a handful of the sixth years, but they had since gone back to their families. They would stop by the castle a few times a week to help with repairs, but they had no business in the dorm.

The common room looked the same as it always had. Bright cheerful tapestries and banners of red and gold adorned the walls. The room was littered with plush armchairs and solid wood tables. The fireplace was empty, but daylight was spilling through the high windows covering the room in a warm golden light. Alice didn't pause to appreciate the sight as she walked through the room, her mind elsewhere as she climbed the stairs to her dorm.

The first thing she had done upon moving in was to have Dobby remove all the beds except for one, and bring up some extra furniture. He had brought her a desk, a bookshelf, and a large sofa with a plain coffee table in front of it. She sat at her desk with her breakfast and pulled out the book she had been reading the night before. '_The Wonderful World of Wards_'proclaimed the cover of the book in excessively large, multicolour font. Despite its rather gaudy cover, Alice was finding it to be an excellent read. She had always been interested in warding magic and she now had the opportunity to learn about it in great depth while assisting with the repair of the castle's defences. As she settled in, she realized that she had completely forgotten to bring any kind of eating utensil. With a sigh, she drew her wand from the holster on her forearm and transfigured one of her quills into a fork. She frowned at it for a moment before casting a quick _scourgify _on it.She replaced her wand and dug in, losing herself in a description of recursive ward structures.

When she had finished eating, she carefully put her book away, turned her fork back into a quill, and replaced it with the rest of her stationery. She rose and went to her bathroom to shower. She untied her long hair and undressed quickly, leaving her wand holstered on her arm. She used to love to take long showers, but now she found they left her too much time alone with her thoughts.

She washed quickly but still her mind turned to the expression of pity she had seen of McGonagall's face. She felt familiar anger creeping through her chest. She was not someone to be looked down on and pitied. They had all paid a price for victory. A powerful wave of emotion crashed over her and she quickly pushed those thoughts far away. She took deep breaths and turned up the temperature of the water. She focused on the feeling of the water washing over her body, scalding her skin, until she felt her usual calm emptiness returning. All her occlumency training had had the welcomed side effect of making her very good at compartmentalizing her thoughts.

She stepped out of the shower and drew her wand. "_Tergeo_," she said, focusing on casting the spell gently. The water siphoned off her skin, falling in a puddle on the ground around her feet. She wrapped her still wet hair in a towel and began to walk out of the bathroom, pausing in front of the full-length mirror.

She had begun to regain some weight, but she was still too thin. The month she'd spent in bed after the Battle had all but wasted her away. But that at least would heal with time. She could not say the same about the collection of curse scars that marred her body. There was the faint one on her cheek, invisible unless illuminated at just the right angle. She raised her hand to glide lightly along it, feeling the slight indentation in her skin. It could be worse, she could have a great huge red scar right on her forehead like Harry had had.

Her mind pulled away from the thought almost reflexively. She looked instead at the dark red vertical line, almost in the centre of the back of her right hand. The skin was twisted and puckered around it, and she could see faint black lines spreading around it like a spider's web. It was still healing, but it would never disappear completely. Neither would its twin in the palm of her hand, where the knife had entered.

Worse still were the letters crudely carved into the side of her left arm. _Mudblood_. The scar was still red, but it was healing much better than the one on her hand. She gazed at it for a while, contemplating the movements the blade must have taken. A large slice up on the 'd' and a matching one down on the 'b'. She refused to feel ashamed. That's what Bellatrix would have wanted and she would not give the woman the satisfaction, even in death.

Finally, her gaze trailed down. Most of her right side, above her hip and reaching part-way up her rib cage, was covered in leathery, mangled skin. It looked like a burn scar, though no one had been able to figure out exactly which curse had caused it. She ran her fingers lightly on it and could barely feel her own touch. Voldemort's final spell had not succeeded in taking her life, but it had certainly come very close.

Her hand fell to her side and she raised her head to look at her face in the mirror. Her familiar dark brown eyes stared back at her. She tried to smile, but it looked forced. She would definitely have to work on that. Hopefully that was not how she looked every time she tried to smile. Her muscles relaxed into a blank expression that felt far more comfortable. She knew she should get moving, but she continued to stare into her own eyes. She felt immobilized, like Narcissus staring into the water.

She raised her fist and punched the mirror with all her force. Pain exploded in her hand and she felt tiny shards of glass drive into her skin. The glass shattered and cascaded down around her feet. She slowly lowered her hand and stared blankly at the plain wood backing of the mirror. It was not carved or polished like the rest of the frame. She closed her eyes. She focused on the feeling of her blood trickling down her hand and the pain radiating out from her knuckles. She felt her magic sparking around each drop of blood. It was as if as barrier between her and the world had been broken, and all her power was seeping out through those tiny cuts.

After a few long moments, she opened her eyes and raised her hand again so that the tips of her fingers were barely an inch away from the backing of the frame. She left them there for a moment, inspecting the shallow cuts on the backs of her fingers. Her magic danced and spiraled around her hand, rushing up and spreading across the remains of the mirror. She imagined that she could feel her magic wrapping around every piece of shattered glass that had once been whole.

"_Reparo_", she whispered. The pieces of glass strewn across the floor began to pick themselves up and fit back into the frame. She felt tiny glass shards slide out of her skin and return to the mirror. As fast as it had broken it was intact again, like nothing had ever happened.

She walked to the cabinet and pulled out a balm which she spread liberally on the scars inflicted by Bellatrix's knife. She then spread a small amount on the shallow cuts on her hand which closed up immediately. One final _tergeo_ to clean off the blood and she was whole again, her magic safely sealed away inside her.


	2. Chapter 2: Mirror, Mirror

Chapter 2: Mirror, Mirror

Once she had dressed, Alice set off into the castle to begin her work for the day. Her current project was to clear out some of the lesser used rooms and corridors where some of the fighting had taken place. Cleaning up the debris was the easy part. She also had to identify places where the flow of the school's magic had been disturbed. Occasionally it was just the defensive wards that had been damaged, even deep within the castle. But problems mostly occurred where the magical fabric that kept the school intact had been disrupted. This magic was as ancient as the Founders and had been added upon by each successive generation of students. It was part of the life of the building which made it more than just a collection of stones and mortar.

She pictured it in her mind like an elaborate circuit. Some wires had been damaged, not to mention the entire alarm system. Some of the repairs she could handle herself. They were akin to patching a hole and flipping on a light switch. Others required a more practiced touch. Those she would mark down for later inspection by Flitwick and his team of ward whizzes. But Alice was learning quickly, and Flitwick felt confident leaving her on her own to take care of more complicated issues.

Today, she was dealing with a warren of corridors near the ruined entrance of the astronomy tower. It was becoming difficult to keep track of the areas she had completed. As the repairs progressed, Hogwarts was becoming more and more lively. The stairs were moving unexpectedly again, and corridors were being shuffled around without warning. Alice was relieved to see that the corridor she had been working on the previous evening was right where she'd left it.

The physical damage to this area was not extensive but the going was still slow. She was close to the massive gaping wound of the astronomy tower, and the holes in the wards were particularly difficult to navigate. Hours passed as she worked in silence, occasionally jotting down notes and descriptions of problems that she could not solve herself. Just as she was thinking of taking a break and going down for lunch, she turned a corner to see an unfamiliar corridor stretching out in front of her. She'd known this area quite well from before it was damaged, and she knew she had never seen this corridor before there or anywhere in the castle. It was completely intact and empty save for a series of torches stretching down one side. There were no paintings on the wall or rugs on the floor. About fifteen metres down, the corridor took a turn to the left.

She could feel a strange magic radiating down the passage. It was wholly unlike the magic of the castle with which she had become intimately familiar. It was more active, more alive. Almost without realizing what she was doing, her feet began to move. She walked down the corridor and with one last glance back the way she had come, turned the corner. She trusted the castle, and if it had brought this passage to her then she would follow it. The corridor continued to curve to the left until she felt that she must have gone in a full circle. Eventually, she came to a door. It was completely plain and identical to almost all the other doors in the school. She paused briefly before opening it and stepping in.

The room was spacious. It had high ceilings with a ring of windows along the top, letting the afternoon light filter in from all directions. It was completely empty save for a large mirror standing right in the center. Alice frowned. She was facing the side of the mirror and couldn't see much of it aside from its clawed feet stretching out in front and behind it. She began to walk around to what she imagined was the front of it when she froze. Her throat suddenly felt dry and she could feel her pulse rushing in her ears. Written on top of the mirror were the words, '_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_'.

_I show not your face but your heart's desire. _

She had never seen it herself but she had heard Harry and Ron describe the Mirror of Erised to her. Alice stood frozen in place, indecision raging within her. Harry had seen his dead parents as his heart's desire. The family he never got to have. Granted he had been eleven at the time, but still. Ron, typically, had seen himself as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain. What would she see? She didn't know what she wanted. She had always dreamed of becoming someone that history would bother to remember. Now she had what she thought she'd wanted, but she had found no satisfaction in it. Her strongest impulse was to turn around and run away. She was terrified that if she stepped in front of the Mirror she would see her dead standing around her.

But it seemed that the castle had brought her here for a reason. She could feel the strange magic of the Mirror calling out to her, begging her to just take a peek. She was not a coward. She liked to think that the Hat had put her in Gryffindor for a reason. So, she cast her eyes downward and walked forward. When she was squarely in front of the Mirror, she looked up.

Her familiar dark brown eyes stared back at her. It took Alice a moment to register what she was seeing. Herself. Nothing and no one else. But still, her mind refused to make sense of it. Alice knew that she was not the happiest person in the world. According to Harry, that was what it meant if you only saw yourself in the Mirror. A bitter laugh escaped her lips. Not even the fabled Mirror of Erised could show her what she was missing. Alice froze once more when she noticed that her reflection wasn't laughing.

Her reflection was also not wearing the look of utter shock that was undoubtedly on her face at the moment. She composed herself and walked slowly towards the Mirror. Her reflection stayed where it was. It was quite eerie, to move around in front of a mirror while your reflection stayed completely still. What was even worse, she quickly realized, was that her reflection was not staying completely still. It was blinking. Alice watched as her reflection slowly cocked its head to the side. It frowned and walked closer to Alice until they were equidistant from the surface of the Mirror again.

"Hello," said the girl-in-the-Mirror.

Alice just about jumped out of her skin, drawing her wand on reflex. The reflection raised its hand and waved rather awkwardly at Alice.

Alice stared at the Mirror for a moment in complete disbelief. Either this was not the Mirror of Erised, or everything she knew about it was a lie.

"Hello," Alice managed to say, gripping her wand tightly. "Um, who are you?"

"I'm the Mirror of Erised," replied the reflection. It frowned, "But it seems you already knew that."

Alice slammed up her occlumency barriers, but the reflection didn't react at all. "Then why are you showing me my reflection?" asked Alice, leaning closer to peer at the reflection which again did not respond in kind. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her instincts were screaming at her to run far, far away.

"I'm a Mirror. What else would you expect me to show?"

"That…is a fair point."

_Not to mention extremely unhelpful_, thoughtAlice. She straightened again to look the Mirror in the (her?) eye. "It's just that I was under the impression that this Mirror would show me not my face but my heart's desire."

"Yes, well, that is what I usually do. But, occasionally, I perform a different function."

The Mirror simply stared at her, and Alice stared back. After a few moments Alice realized that the Mirror was not going to say anything more.

"What different function?" she asked finally.

"Oh," the Mirror seemed surprised at the question. "Yes, of course. To a certain few I act as a doorway of sorts."

"A doorway. Of sorts," echoed Alice.

"Yes."

There was another long pause. It was beginning to dawn on Alice that the Mirror was a terrible conversationalist.

"What exactly do you mean when you say a doorway of sorts? Where does the doorway lead?"

"Well, I'm more like a portal really than a doorway. Sometimes I am able to open up a path to a different Place. In your case, that path leads to August 3rd, 1944."

The Mirror stated this in such a matter-of-fact tone that for a moment Alice thought that she had misheard.

"I'm sorry did you say 1944?" she asked, her voice coming out at a slightly higher pitch than normal.

"Yes," the Mirror answered, smiling brightly.

_Hm, so that's what it's supposed to look like._ The thought popped into Alice's head unbidden. She shook her head. It was more that slightly distracting having a conversation with her own reflection.

"That's not possible. You can't go back more than five hours in time." Alice was trying desperately to calm her thoughts as she spoke. A doorway through time? Everything she had ever studied about time told her that was absurd. Maybe someone had jinxed the Mirror? But why this ridiculous story? And why that date?

"Oh, you're quite right about that," the Mirror replied with a small laugh. "Who knows what would happen if someone tried to go so far back in time! Nothing good I imagine. No. I'm a doorway, not a time machine! I told you that I open to a different Place, not a different time."

"A different place?" Alice realized that she probably sounded like an idiot, dumbly repeating what the Mirror was telling her. She put her wand away and closed her eyes, trying to make sense of it all. "Like a portal to a different dimension?" she asked after a long moment.

"Precisely!" the Mirror seemed proud that Alice was finally catching on.

"And do you always lead to August 3rd, 1944?"

"Well of course not! That would be ridiculous."

"Yes. Ridiculous," replied Alice slowly, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She was quickly running out of patience with the Mirror. "So why are you leading to August 3rd, 1944 now?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I don't choose where the doorway opens, you do. It probably has something to do with where you need to be. It's been a different Place for everyone, but it meant something to all of them."

"If I could choose a time to go back to, that would certainly not be it." Alice felt anger rising in her and forced herself to calm down. She took a deep breath. As she relaxed, a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Wait, how many people have gone through here?"

"Not many. Five or six, I think? I've only ever had one person come out this end though."

"Someone came here from another dimension? Who?" asked Alice, feeling quite alarmed. A door opens both ways she supposed.

"Oh, I don't remember. It was a few centuries ago now."

Alice breathed a sigh of relief. The idea of someone from a completely different timeline wandering around was more than a little unsettling.

She looked up at the Mirror again, seeing her own face staring expectantly back at her. She found herself thinking very seriously about what the Mirror was offering her. If it was a lie, then she would be no worse off than she was now. But if it were true…

Deep down she knew why she was being offered this path. She knew what lay on the other side of it. Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle as he then was, would be alive and well. He would have killed Myrtle and his family already, and had likely made his first horcrux, but he was still vulnerable.

Alice's heart was beating wildly in her chest. The War was over, but she had not found peace. Grieving, rebuilding, and moving on to a life indolence did not appeal to her. So much had been lost already that it seemed impossible to move on. More than that, she knew that she didn't want to. Now, she could have the opportunity to go to a different Place and make sure that none of it ever happened at all. She felt a stirring within her that she hadn't felt since she'd killed Lord Voldemort. She wanted this, and she wanted this desperately.

"If you lead to an alternate dimension, is it identical to this one except for the time difference?" Alice asked suddenly.

"Mostly."

"What does that mean? Mostly?" Alice decided that this was by far the most unhelpful Mirror she had ever had the misfortune of speaking with.

"No two Places are exactly alike. There will be a few small changes but nothing significant. I still exist, obviously, and so does this school."

"Those are awfully broad strokes. Can you tell me what specifically is different?"

"No."

Alice took another deep breath and quashed down the impulse to go and bang her head against the wall.

"Do I have to walk through right now?"

"No."

"Right. How long do I have to decide?"

"I'm not sure. It took the last one about a month to make up her mind. I think that as long as you want it more than anything else, the door will be open to you. But I wouldn't recommend taking too long. You are speaking to me now because there is nothing tying you to this world. If that changes, then the door will close."

That left Alice with many more options. She didn't think that she would lose the desire to go, but she agreed with the Mirror that it wasn't wise to wait too long. She wouldn't want to announce to this new world that she was an inter-dimensional traveller. The mere thought of someone from a different Place stepping through the Mirror centuries ago was enough to disturb her. Not to mention how valuable her knowledge of the future would be to anyone that found out where she'd come from. No, if she wanted to keep her identity secret then she would have to do some serious research. Hopefully, enough would be similar between the two Places that the cover story she would concoct would hold up across dimensions.

"So, when I step through I'll come out the Mirror of Erised of the other Place?"

"Yes."

"And is it in Hogwarts?"

"No."

Alice sighed in aggravation but the Mirror seemed completely oblivious to her mounting irritation. She supposed it was partially her own fault for not asking more pointed questions.

"So where will I arrive when I step through the Mirror?"

"The basement of the home of Wilhelm Weiss in Munich, Germany."

_Splendid_, thought Alice. "And I suppose Grindelwald is currently waging his war in Europe in this other Place?"

"Yes."

Well that simply meant that there would be a bit more work to be done in preparation. Grindelwald's attacks in Europe had been devastating, and no one would think twice about a poor orphaned refugee fleeing the destruction.

"Can I come back once I've gone through?"

"No. Once you step through, the door will close behind you forever."

Alice figured that that would be the case, but it never hurt to ask.

"How will I find you again?" Alice asked the Mirror. "Will you be here?"

"When you want to talk again, or when you're ready to leave, just go looking for me. The castle will lead you where you need to go."

"Well then, I'll have some preparing to do before I'm ready to step through."

The Mirror smiled kindly at her, an expression which in Alice's eyes looked completely foreign on her own face. It raised its hand and waved at her again. "Until we meet again" it said.

Alice nodded and turned to walk away. She stared at the reflection which stayed completely still as Alice walked. Eventually, it disappeared as she stepped out of the view of the Mirror. She swallowed hard. Her hands were shaking with supressed excitement, and her heart was pounding loudly in her chest. She silently thanked the castle for the opportunity it had given her.

She stepped through door and realized that she was in a corridor not far from the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, exactly nowhere near where she had originally entered. She turned back sharply to the door only to be greeted by a blank wall. She raised her hand, resting it on the cold stone where the door had been moments before, and smiled.


End file.
